


Penelope, Weaving

by Elizabeth Culmer (edenfalling)



Category: Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies)
Genre: Backstory, Cultural Differences, F/M, Fifteen Minute Fic, Gen, Pre-Movie(s), Remixed
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-05-24
Updated: 2009-05-24
Packaged: 2018-01-20 22:58:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 688
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1528859
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/edenfalling/pseuds/Elizabeth%20Culmer
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Amanda accepted Sarek's proposal, she assumed that, as an ambassador, he would not spend much time on Vulcan.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Penelope, Weaving

**Author's Note:**

> This fic was inspired by the 5/18/09 [15_minute_fic](http://15_minute_fic.livejournal.com) word #111. It's set before the AOS/TOS continuity split, but was written with AOS in mind, so read it as you will.
> 
> Tangentially, T'Pau's insistence on saying 'thee' when she should be saying 'thou' drives me up the wall, but I am told this is a usage known as the Quaker 'thee,' and it's TOS canon, so there you are. *grits teeth, stifles inner grammar purist*

When Amanda accepted Sarek's proposal, she assumed that, as an ambassador, he would not spend much time on Vulcan. She expected to travel with him. She wasn't terribly enamored of travel for travel's sake, but the idea of meeting new peoples, hearing new languages, seeing new skies and stars every year -- that was intriguing. And, of course, she wanted to be with Sarek as much as possible.

Sarek's House had other ideas.

"The wife of the heir stays on Vulcan. Sarek's son must be raised among his people, to know this world as his own," T'Pau told her shortly before the wedding.

"If we have children," Amanda said, "they'll have two worlds, two peoples. I won't raise a child to deny everything that shaped me." She thought of a son, or a daughter, and dreamed of showing that child white clouds in a clear blue sky, a thunderstorm over the ocean, lush forests and lakes and streams. Vulcan was beautiful, in a sere, monochrome palette -- red and brown and gold -- but Earth was her heart's home. Earth, and Sarek. Who would deprive a child of its father?

T'Pau raised a single eyebrow and continued to look inscrutable, but Amanda thought she saw a hint of amused respect behind the older woman's steely determination. "Thee may teach thy child of Earth, and of humans, but no child with Vulcan blood can live without control. Know and accept this, or renounce thy claim on Sarek."

"Of course we'd teach a child control," Amanda said, clenching her right hand behind her back, where T'Pau presumably couldn't see evidence of her own lack in that respect. "I never said anything about that. But I still don't see why I have to stay on Vulcan." Why would she choose to live away from Sarek?

Perhaps fortunately, Sarek walked onto the balcony before T'Pau could answer. On any other man, his expression would seem perfectly composed. Amanda knew him better. She read the trace of worry, saw his slightly hastened gait. They were close enough, now, that he could feel her distress, the wavering of her control.

"Sarek," said T'Pau. "I honor thy choice."

He inclined his head, respectfully, and waited until she withdrew. Then he reached across the space between him and Amanda, and touched her left hand with two fingers.

"What have we failed to communicate?" he asked.

His voice was clear and calm, his hand steady on hers, and in his face Amanda could see that all his fierce intelligence was focused on her, on solving this problem to their mutual satisfaction. "Nothing," she said, and, unclenching her right hand, reached out and drew him close for a hug. That was what he did, on a hundred other worlds: brought people together, made peace, forged a bridge of patience and understanding. How could she do less?

His compassion, his understanding, were born from Vulcan, sown under this burning sky, cultivated in this wasteland, with its hidden springs and shelters. He was part of this world down to his bones and his soul, steadfast and unyielding as stone... and yet he had learned to love Earth with all its garish, riotous bounty, to love Earth's people with their reckless, careless trust in emotion and chance. He trusted Amanda with his heart, despite their differences. He trusted her to know what he could not say, and to keep his honor safe.

After a moment, Sarek encircled her with his arms in turn, and let her rest her head on his shoulder. "If there is anything I can, within the bounds of propriety, do--" he began, one hand shifting slightly on the back of Amanda's dress.

Amanda pressed a finger over his lips. "It was nothing important."

Vulcan had shaped Sarek into the man she loved. She would learn to love this world, to hear its voice, to serve its people. She would trust this desert and its secrets to shape her children as strong and true as her own world might have done. She would stay under this foreign sky, in this parched land, and be the star that guided her husband home.

**Author's Note:**

> I have always loved Amanda and Sarek. The thing is, Amanda plays a set of very stereotypical female roles -- the housewife, the woman waiting at home for the Great Man's return, the smiling political wife adorning her husband's side, the devoted mother -- and yet she's a very strong and intelligent person. So I wonder, sometimes, if Sarek asked her to play those roles, or if it was something she chose freely, or if maybe it was forced on both of them by Vulcan tradition... and I wonder why Amanda said 'yes' to all that.

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [Where The Wood Drake Flies (The Squirrel With The Table Remix)](https://archiveofourown.org/works/1583801) by [Estirose](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Estirose/pseuds/Estirose)




End file.
